COLOMBO: With the Sri Lankan troops closing in on the last bastions of LTTE, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said Tiger supremo V. Prabhakaran will soon have to "pay" for attacking various religious places in the island nation in the past 25 years.

"Prabhakaran will have to pay for carrying out attacks on religious places, including Dalada Maligawa or The Temple of the Sacred Tooth Relic," Rajapaksa told an election rally in Kandy, 115 km from Colombo.

The temple in the city of Kandy built within the royal palace complex, houses a relic of Buddha, a tooth which is venerated by Buddhists.

"In a few days, Prabhakaran will have to pay compensation for attacking the Dalada Maligawa and the Sri Maha Bodhi temples," Rajapaska said.

The Tamil Tigers had attacked various Buddhist temples in Sri Lanka during the 30-year-old insurgency in the country.

Sri Lankan troops have captured the rebel strongholds of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu and confined the Tamil Tigers to an area less than 15 km.

Rajapaksa said the forthcoming two Provincial Council elections will decide whether or not the government could carry forward the victory of the war heroes.

"No force on earth would stop the dynamic march of the Nation today," Rajapaksa told the rally.

"This is not an ordinary election. This is an election which would strengthen the historic victory that war heroes are giving to the nation," Rajapaksa said.

"The large crowd that is attending this rally is a testimony to the historic victory that the UPFA would get in the forthcoming Provincial Council elections (to be held on February 14)," the President said.

"We have provided computer facilities to over 250 schools in the Central Province. Over 6,000 Tamil medium teachers have been appointed to the estate schools," he said.

Meanwhile, anti-LTTE Sri Lankan Tamil Minister Douglas Devananda has said Prabhakaran has virtually been "cornered" and that he cannot escape from the Island Nation.

Devananda is the Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare and Chairman of Special Task Committee of the Northern Province.

"Prabhakaran has already tried shifting from one bunker to another or from one hiding place to the next in Wanni. But he cannot escape from the country," Devananda said.